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“You look just like her,” Marius seethed, spittle and blood dripping onto my shoulder. “If you would have visited I would have taken pleasure in draining you long before the final night.”
“For a creature that is so feared and spoken about, you sure are able to string sentences together well. Even on the fateful night. I would have expected a more beastly creature, one who did not enjoy conversation when all he wanted to do is feed.”
“You want the beast?” His voice deepened, causing the shadows to curl inward around us.
Mother leaned on one hip and spat, “Well, go on then. Show me. For I look upon not only one, but two pathetic beings. Do as you will with my boy, our kind have adjusted to our pending fate. Yet you will not see the next night either way. I sense it now, the curse on this place weakening. Soon enough the barrier will fall and you will let go of this hungry creature. Jak will die and you will follow. You can either take your fill, the outcome for you and Jak will be the same. But hurry.” She glanced up to the sky only slightly, both the corners of her painted lips turning upward. “I give it a few minutes until the sun rears its beautiful face for us all to see.”
I followed her stare to the brightening sky. It was light enough that I could see the sleepy town materialise in the distance.
There was hesitation in Marius’s grip. A moment that I almost missed as his hold on me relaxed slightly, nails no longer digging into my skin. Yet he did not let go completely.
“Do it,” I whispered my plea. “You will be free.”
Mother winced as I admitted aloud the outcome that was moments away. I was ready for the end as desperately as Marius was ready for the feast.
He leaned in, cold breath tickling my neck once again. Then he spoke. Subtle words that shattered me into a million pieces.
“I will never harm you again.”
His voice was soft in nature. It rumbled slightly, as though he fought for a place in this conversation. I feared that Mother would sense my stiffening and know something was amiss.
“Finish him off, but forgive the aftertaste of failure when you are done,” Mother cooed from her position beyond the weakening barrier.
Marius kept his mouth hovering above my neck as he spoke again but his hold on me softened, enough for me to feel but not for Mother to see. “It is me.”
My body trembled violently, so much so that Marius had to return the strength to his hold to keep me standing. Deep within I felt the power raise its heavy head as I readied it for what was to come.
Marius breathed his next whisper. The words jagged like a blade, edged and commanding. “Unleash hell, Jak.”
It happened so fast that my breath was snatched away from me. Marius pushed me towards the barrier with a roar. I raised my hands, expecting to collide with its layering, but passed through to the surprise of Mother. Into her unexpecting arms I fell, knocking her to the floor.
We tumbled across the paved ground, rolling over limbs as she tried to push me from her. But I became dead weight from my own surprise and confusion.
“No!” someone shouted as I came to a stop among reaching hands. Countless hands from the hooded figures of the coven yanked me from the floor. Mother batted those who dared reach for her. She stood, straightening herself as we all now watched on at Marius who towered in front of Katharine.
“Fool,” Mother screamed, her shrill voice that of the dreaded banshee. “You dare play games with me?” If her pointed finger was a weapon, Marius would have been dead ten times over. Her arm shook as she kept it raised towards Marius.
But he looked at me with a pleading, sorrowful gaze. “Fight back.”
“You are free,” I murmured, eyes brimming with tears.
I could not do anything. Not as the glare of Mother turned to me. In seconds she was before me, blocking my view of Marius. A line of coven members formed between both parties, brandishing their weapons in shaky grasps, each aimed at Marius whose stance was bent and ready to move as he watched them.
“I would take your next steps carefully…” Mother spoke to Marius, but her stare did not leave mine. Not even to blink.
“The barrier is down, the curse is broken and he is free.” Spit splashed across her face as I pulled as close as I could to her. But I felt the resistance as those who held me stood strong. “I fail with pride knowing you will die by his doing. That, Mother, is the just ending.”
Mother hushed those who held me away like she was swatting bees. Her bony fingers reached for my shoulder and squeezed. Although she was powerless, her touch was enough to silence me. She leaned into me, forehead pressed to mine as she replied, “Then you will die with the same pride.”
Confusion pinched lines across my forehead, my eyes searching her face for a sign of a lie. But as she looked up again, a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
She cried, but not from sadness or grief. It was something else, something more.
I wanted to shout for Marius as the blade concealed in the folds of Mother’s cloak came free. Wind blew at her blue-black hair, pushing each strand from her face so it was impossible not to see her expression. Lines creased over her forehead and I was certain she was shouting.
But the sound did not reach me. No noise did.
One moment the blade was cutting through the air between us, the next sharp tip sliced across my throat.
